Party Poker Blog

I guess I won the Mookie last evening. Too bad I don't remember the last damn hour.

Damn Guinness.

I don't even think I've made a final table in all the Mookie's I've played. The tourney was cursed for me. Until last night, that is. I guess I win a seat in the Tournament of Champions, so I don't have to play anymore of these damn things? Unless there's a leaderboard. There's not a leaderboard, right?

And so today, our company is taking everyone to the mecca of horse racing, Keeneland, outside of Lexington, Ky.



What kind of ad agency takes their employees to a Kentucky race track to drink heavily and gamble?

An awesomely cool one.

Aw hell, I've got a few 2+2 threads for your amusement today.

Here's another Absolute Poker is rigged thread that I read thru last evening while folding and drinking: AP, rigged, etc. #8981.4 - the plot thickens

Full Tilt Poker's Doug appeared to answer questions:
FTP answers 10/24

I enjoyed the trip report from playing on TV's High Stakes Poker:
Jman's High Stakes Poker Trip Report

And let's leave you with two strange but popular threads.
CONTEST: post a hotter "brunette" and win money

Competition: Ugliest girlfriend

Thanks for stopping by. I'm off to bet the ponies.

The UFC had their pay-per-view event here in my hometown this past Saturday. I happen to help out with a little UFC news site so we decided to throw a few parties and drink way too much booze for three straight days.

Allow me to state for the record: people-watching at UFC events is outstanding sport.

A few shout-outs are in order. I had a fine time becoming close personal friends with uber-hottie, Anne Rivera, thanks to my pals at Fight Magazine. After encouraging the mightily offensive and irreverent Montreal Canada City bloggers at Fight Linker to come down for the event, they did so. And much hilarity ensued.

And getting to roll with A-list internet marketing celebrity, ShoeMoney and his crew, Dave and Brian, was highly entertaining. Go check out his photos for pics of him with everyone from Dana White, Matt Hughes and the Mickey's girls.

Quick funny Shoe story. I secured VIP passes for he and his crew at Bang, our big pre-fight club party on Friday evening. Lotsa celebs were in attendance, including Jenna Jameson.

So anyway, Shoe doesn't drink often. Compared to me, that is. But this evening, with the party in full swing, Shoe drank enough to lose his equilibrium and fall down right in the middle of the VIP room.

As he's laying there, shaking his head, trying to clear the cobwebs, he feels a strong hand on his shoulder.

Shoe looks up and its the referee, Big John McCarthy, who says, "Are you OK to continue?"

Unbelievable.

Let's move to the disturbing awful news about Absolute Poker. I've gotten many an email from people asking why I haven't written about this yet, and the answer is quite easy. I've been drunk.

But real-life has returned and I'm here with a compendium of links on the matter.

This is dreadful, worse-case scenario stuff here. Although I've never recommended Absolute Poker (Bonus Code IGGY on Party Poker, damnit!) they're still showing up as the 9th largest online poker property on the web, according to Poker Site Scout.

While I'm not sure we'll ever hear the full story here, thank God the online poker community has banded together to police the situation and put the pieces of the puzzle (such as they are) together.

Bottom line, fuck Absolute poker. If the allegations prove true, they need to go out of business ASAP.

Let's run down the links for you, because you need to go read about this monstrosity of a fuck-up yourselves.

2+2 thread: Absolute Poker Scandal: An Inside Job

Tough Times For Absolute Poker by my journalist buddy Haley.

Nate, the man behind the pokerdb, and major force behind exposing the fraud has his blog here.

And Good God, even the NY Times Freakonomics blog, written by Steven D. Levitt, is blowing the lid off this thing. Ouch. The Absolute Poker Cheating Scandal Blown Wide Open

I really don't even know what to say here. I've obviously dramatically slacked off on my poker writing since returning to the agency biz a year ago, but I still have deep ties and identity with our beloved game. I'm the Blogfather, for Gods sakes.

That being said, I hope this implosion causes some serious changes in the industry. I mean, who knows how far down the rabbit hole this thing really goes?

As always, I typically get the best perspective from one of our games elite writers, Otis. As a poker insider it would behoove you to go read his superb writing and take on this situation over at UFP: How to Stay Alive in the Woods: Poker Edition

And while I have a ton more to offer on this topic (don't I always?) I'm still recovering from this past weekend and need to cut this short.

And if you wanted a silver lining out of this whole Absolute mess, have you heard that Doyle's Room is coming back for US players?

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that DoylesRoom.com is back in the USA Market. Commencing October 19, 2007, all US-players are welcomed to enjoy our redesigned, faster and better poker tables.

DoylesRoom.com US-players that moved to Full Tilt will be allowed to re-access their existing account.